Civil Service: Eid ul Adha Reception

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the reception to be hosted by Sir Gus O'Donnell in his capacity as patron and ambassador of the Civil Service Islamic Society on 18 January to mark Eid ul Adha will receive any subsidy from public funds.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Cabinet Office considered the request to fund this internal Civil Service event in accordance with normal spending guidelines and agreed to meet the cost, which will be £889.

Civil Service: Eid ul Adha Reception

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether Shiekh Riyadh Ul-Haq, known as Abu-Yusef, was invited to attend and speak at the reception to be hosted by Sir Gus O'Donnell on 18 January to mark Eid ul Adha; and, if so, when they became aware that the invitation had been issued.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Cabinet Secretary agreed to host the reception on 18 January. Neither he, nor any member of the Cabinet Office, invited Shiekh Riyadh Ul-Haq to attend or speak at the reception. As soon as the Cabinet Office became aware of suggestions that external speakers should be invited to the event, the department made it clear that it would not be appropriate to invite external speakers to this internal event.

Civil Service: Religious Societies

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many religious societies, other than the Civil Service Islamic Society, there are within the Civil Service; and what they are.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Whitehall Christian Network is currently the only other cross-service religious society. There are also a number of faith networks in individual departments, but information on these is not held centrally.
	The Civil Service has committed to supporting all its staff networks in the 10-point plan, Delivering a Diverse Civil Service, which was launched on 1 November 2005. They play an important part in raising awareness, supporting staff and providing input to departmental action to challenge discrimination and value diversity.

Civil Service: Religious Societies

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether religious societies in the Civil Service receive any subsidies from public funds.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: The Civil Service-wide faith-based networks, the Civil Service Islamic Society and the Whitehall Christian Network, do not receive any central funding. Any requests for funding from these networks—for example, for specific events—would be considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with standard guidelines on expenditure from public funds.
	A number of departments have faith-based and other staff networks. It is for departments to determine the level and nature of support they provide to their networks. Information is not held centrally on levels of support provided.

Media and Image Consultants: Department for Transport

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How much the Department for Transport spent on external media and image consultants in each year since it was established in 2002.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The department has press officers who handle most of its media relations with the support of the Government News Network in the regions. In addition, the department spent the following amount in each year since it was established on consultancy fees for external media relations, primarily to support our marketing activities, such as the THINK! road safety campaign.
	
		
			  £ DfT (Central) £ DfT (Agencies) 
			 2002–03 496,004 302,250 
			 2003–04 357,146 503,788 
			 2004–05 438,210 373,328 
		
	
	We have also invested the following in branding.
	
		
			
			 2002–03 Central Department 25,000 
			  Highways Agency 48,000 
			  VOSA 3,700  
			 2003–04 VOSA 20,000  
			 2004–05 DVLA 5,000 
		
	
	This expenditure covers the one-off costs of re-branding, of the new department and of the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) which was formed in 2003; a brand ad design guide used in the Highways Agency and minor changes to signage and electronic templates at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.

Haemophilia: Recombinant Treatment

Lord Morris of Manchester: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will agree to the long-term ring-fencing of funding for recombinant products in light of representations made by the Haemophilia Society to the Department of Health.

Lord Warner: I refer my noble friend to the reply I gave on 31 October 2005, Official Report, col. WA 4.

Higher Education Funding Council for England

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they will review the arrangements for the allocation of resources by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to ensure that performance in the assessment process of students is taken into account in the allocation of resources.

Lord Adonis: The council, which is responsible for the detailed distribution of grant between English higher education institutions, has been consulting the sector on the future formula to be used for the distribution of grant for teaching. The council will consider carefully whether the current formula could be improved drawing on the many arguments and pieces of evidence which are put forward in the consultation exercise.

Higher Education: Bursaries

Baroness Sharp of Guildford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are their current estimates of the total expenditure likely to be incurred by universities in England on the bursary schemes to be introduced in conjunction with top-up fees for 2006–07; 2007–08; and 2008–09.

Lord Adonis: We estimate that the total expenditure on bursary schemes of English higher education institutions with access agreements will rise from £150 million in 2006–07 to over £250 million in 2007–08 and then to over £350 million in 2008–09. I am pleased by the way higher education institutions have responded to the new arrangements we are introducing by offering generous support packages with bursaries of up to £3,000, and in some exceptional cases up to £5,700.

Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities: Redundancies

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs redundancies, including staff transfers, are planned as a result of the establishment of Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities.

Lord Bach: Establishing Natural England and the Commission for Rural Communities is part of a broader programme of change, which affects staff employed by Defra (including the Rural Development Service), English Nature and the Countryside Agency. Government Offices for the Regions and regional development agencies are also affected. In most cases, staff changes will not take place until October 2006.
	We set out initial details on staffing in a regulatory impact assessment published alongside the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill. This is available on the Defra website at www.defra.gov.uk/rural/pdfs/ruraldelivery/bill/20051012ria.pdf.
	Work is continuing to finalise the figures. If necessary we will publish an update.

Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Baroness Byford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	How many Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs personnel are working full-time, and how many part-time, on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill.

Lord Bach: Within Defra, the core team working on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill consists of four people working full-time (two administrators and two lawyers). About 30 other officials and lawyers have some significant interest in the Bill, reflecting the policy areas it covers, and spend some of their time working on it as part of their responsibilities.

NHS: North Cumbria

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are the current in-year allocations to the North Cumbria Health Authority for specific services and initiatives from the Department of Health's budget programme.

Lord Warner: The area covered by the former North Cumbria Health Authority is now part of the Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority. The information requested is in the following table.
	
		Centrally Funded Initiatives Services and Special Allocations to Cumbria and Lancashire Strategic Health Authority in 2005–06 (to date)
		
			 Budget Title Allocation(£000s) 
			 Medical and Professional Education and Training 88,536 
			 SHA Running Costs 4,784 
			 Individual Learning Accounts (inc NVQs) 2,499 
			 GP Recruitment & Retention 632 
			 NHS Direct, Unscheduled Care & Out of Hours 408 
			 Corporate Programme 311 
			 Prescribing Training 290 
			 Pathology Modernisation 100 
			 Transfer of the strategic advisors following the closure of NHS Estates 86 
			 Choice and Plurality 75 
			 Recruitment, Retention & Return to Practice 71 
			 Pay & Pensions Modernisation 50 
			 Prison healthcare 43 
			 National Programme for IT 25

NHS: North Cumbria

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What was the annual budget deficit in National Health Service provision in North Cumbria in each year since 1997; and
	What is the accumulated deficit for National Health Service provision in North Cumbria in the last year for which statistics are available.

Lord Warner: The latest year for which audited financial information is available is 2004–05. The financial position for National Health Service organisations in North Cumbria reported in the years 1997–98 to 2004–05 is provided in the following tables.
	Table 1 shows the reported year-end financial position of NHS Trusts in North Cumbria and North Cumbria Health Authority from 1997–98 to 2000–01.
	
		Table 1
		
			 NHSOrganisation 1997–98 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 1998–99 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 1999–2000 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 2000–01 Surplus/(deficit)£000s 
			 Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust 38 25 22 9 
			 West Cumbria Health Care NHS Trust 31 0 0 0 
			 North Cumbria HA 0 1,140 (1,932) 849 
		
	
	Source: NHS Trust and HA Audited Summarisation Schedules 1997–98 to 2000–01
	Primary care trusts (PCTs) and strategic health authorities (SHAs) came into existence in 2002–03. In 2001–02 Carlisle Hospitals NHS Trust and West Cumbria Health Care NHS Trust merged to form North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
	Table 2 shows the reported year-end financial position of North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, the PCTs in North Cumbria, North Cumbria Health Authority and Cumbria and Lancashire (SHA) for the years 2001–02 to 2004–05.
	
		Table 2
		
			 NHSOrganisation 2001–02 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 2002–03 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 2003–04 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 2004–05 Surplus/(deficit) £000s 
			 North Cumbria 6(1) (1,803) (4,133)(2) 13 
			 Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 
			 Carlisle and District PCT n/a 15 24 90 
			 Eden Valley PCT n/a 24 8 33 
			 West Cumbria PCT n/a 7 15 208 
			 Cumbria and Lancashire SHA n/a 41 10,584 15,800 
			 North Cumbria HA 24 n/a n/a n/a 
		
	
	Source: NHS Trust, PCT, HA and SHA Audited Summarisation Schedules 2001–02 to 2004–05
	Note to table:
	(1) This was subsequently subject to a prior period accounting adjustment of (£1.361) million
	(2) This was subsequently subject to a prior period accounting adjustment of (£0.489) million.
	The cumulative breakeven position for North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is made up of the total of the year-end financial positions for the years from 2001–02 to 2004–05. That is the £5.917 million deficit shown year by year in the above two tables, plus the two prior year adjustments of £1.361 million deficit and £0.489 million deficit for 2001–02 and 2003–04 respectively.
	Thus the cumulative breakeven position for North Cumbria Acute Hospitals NHS Trust for the financial year 2004–05 is an overspend of £7.767 million. No other organisation in North Cumbria has an accumulated deficit.

NHS: Quality of Medical Care

Lord Brightman: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What assessment they have made of the impact of targets on the National Health Service in terms of the quality of medical care.

Lord Warner: In meeting their duty of quality as set by Section 45 of the Health and Social Care (Community Health and Standards) Act 2003 each National Health Service body takes into account the statement of national standards for the NHS published by the Secretary of State for Health in 2004 as Standards for Better Health. Core standard C7 sets a specific responsibility upon individual NHS bodies to implement the national performance requirements.
	The Healthcare Commission's annual healthcheck of NHS bodies will assess their achievement of the standards, including that relating to targets, set in Standards for Better Health. The results of the commission's first annual healthcheck, that for the year 2005–06, will be published in September 2006.
	The Government support and promote the quality of medical care in a wide range of other ways. The recent publication Reform of the NHS in England: update and next steps sets out how patient choice will create incentives for hospitals and other providers to improve the quality and responsiveness of the services they provide, within a framework of regulation and decision-making that guarantees quality, fairness, equity and value for money.

Royal Air Force: Hercules XV179

Lord Garden: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What further action has been taken to investigate whether the advice of 2 June 2004 about tactics, subsequently adopted by the crew of RAF Hercules XV179 on 30 January 2005 (paragraph 46 of the Board of Inquiry report), was soundly based.

Lord Drayson: Tactical advice is kept under constant review; that which was contained in the letter of 2 June 2004 was based on operational experience and thorough assessment of the prevailing threats and was considered valid at the time of this incident. The crew of XV179 drew on this, and other sources of advice, in determining their tactics on the day of the crash. Review of the advice contained in the 2 June 2004 letter following the crash has confirmed that it remains valid, subject to sharper definition of the balance of risk.

Stansted Airport

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether the statement by the Lord Davies of Oldham on 13 December 2005 that the expansion of Stansted airport cannot take place without significant improvement in public transport (Official Report, col. 1113) represents official government policy; and, if so, what significant improvement is required.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government's policy on expansion of Stansted airport was set out in the air transport White Paper. This indicated that increased capacity on the West Anglia Main Line and enhanced local public transport would be needed to support a new runway at Stansted. BAA is currently consulting on its plans for a second runway and this includes details of the work so far to assess the regional and local transport impacts.

Stansted Airport

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have made an assessment of the estimated income that could result from charging employees of Stansted airport for the use of airport car parking spaces.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government have not assessed the estimated income of Stansted airport employees being charged for the use of airport car parking spaces. The provision and management of on-airport car parking is a matter for the airport operator.

Stansted Airport: London Rail Link

Lord Hanningfield: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	Whether they have made an assessment of the estimated cost of providing a direct rail service from London to Stansted airport; and, if so, what is the estimated cost.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The Government have not assessed the cost of providing a direct rail service from London to Stansted airport. BAA is currently consulting on its plans for a second runway and this includes details of the work so far to examine the impact on the West Anglia Main Line. The consultation closes on 24 March and has been placed on BAA's website.

Universities: Southampton Solent

Lord Campbell-Savours: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	When the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education carried out an external audit of the arrangements made by Southampton Solent University for ensuring quality and standards; and what was the outcome of that audit; and
	Whether the positive pass policy of Southampton Solent University, as described by the university, meets its objectives for standards in higher education.

Lord Adonis: The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) last carried out an audit of the institution's quality and standards arrangements in August 2000, when the institution's title was the Southampton Institute. The overall conclusion on quality and standards was that there could be broad confidence in the institute's ability properly to discharge its responsibility for the academic standards of the degrees it awarded in the name of Nottingham Trent University and for the quality of the programmes of study leading to those awards. The full report is available on the QAA website at www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews/reports/institutional/southampton institute/southampton—institute.asp£34. More recently, the institution has been subject to QAA scrutiny following its application for degree-awarding powers and university title. It was granted taught degree-awarding powers on 1 November 2004 and university title on 8 July 2005.
	It is a matter for universities to ensure that appropriate standards are being achieved, referenced against national definitions of standards agreed by and for the higher education sector. The QAA publish these definitions and review institutional practice in relation to them, via institutional audits. The "positive pass policy" as presented in media reporting does not reflect the policies of Southampton Solent University on standards and assessment.

Universities: Top-up Fees

Baroness Sharp of Guildford: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What are their current estimates of the gross income to be gained by the university sector in England from the charging of top-up fees for 2006–07; 2007–08; and 2008–09.

Lord Adonis: From 2006–07, institutions will be free to set fees up to £3,000 for new students. Figures for income from fees from 2006–07 onwards will depend on the pattern of fee charging by institutions and the way that students respond to that pattern.
	Assuming 91 per cent of students were charged £3,000 and the remaining 9 per cent £2,000, we estimate that the fee income on a steady state basis on 2006–07 student numbers would be around £2.25 billion. Fuller details are contained in the Written Statement from my honourable friend the Minister of State for Higher Education and Skills of 10 November 2005 (Official Report, Commons, col. 22WS)